Coupler yoke



- E. H. SCHMIDT COUPLER YOKE Filed Sept. 5. 1919 Inventor By Attorney Patented duly d, 1

hearse as I Middle? ERNEST H. SCIDT, F CLEVELAND IGHTS, QHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE SIGN- MENTS, 1'0 NATIONAL MALLEABLE AND STEEL CASTIEIQS CQZEIPANY, OF CLEVE- narm, 00, a oooaarron' or 00.

. s: YOKE.

Application filed September 5, 1919. Serial No. 321,926.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EnNEsr H. SCHMIDT. a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. have invented new and useful 1m rovements in Coupler Yokes, of which the ollowing is a specification, reference being had to the i accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan of my improved yoke showing a coupler connected thereto; Fig. 2 is a section on line II-II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3' is a section on line III-III of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section of a modified form of my invention; Fig. 5 is a section on line VV of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a further modification of my invention.

My invention relates to coupler yokes and provides a yoke having a connection with the coupler butt of a car coupler which is of simple, convenient, and compact form, and at the same time has the requisite strength to resist the heavy stresses of buffing and draft. My invention also consists vin the construction and arrangement of parts, which I shall hereinafter describe and claim.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 2 represents the shank of an automatic coupler. The shank 2 terminates in the rearwardly extending lugs 3 and 4 which are provided with registering apertures 5 and 6 therethrough for the reception of a pivot pin 7 The yoke, which is preferably an in,- tegral steel casting, consists of the usual uppeer and lower members 9 and 10 connected at their rear ends and has a cross piece 11 joining the forward ends of the members 9 and 10. The cross piece 11 is substantially rectangular in cross section as is shown in Fig. 3. The rear wall 12 of the piece 11 may be provided with an opening 13 through which a core may be supported during casting and through which it may later (be broken up and removed.

The forward wall 14 of the cross piece 11 has an arc-shaped forward face and merges into the forwardly extending reinforcing walls 15 which preferably flare outwardly and project substantially to the forward end of the yoke, thus providing a structure WhlCh permits an anglin engagement between the coupler shank an the yoke and at the same time a reinforced brace for the yoke at the place where the greatest spreading pressure is exerted. Apertured flanges 16, 17 and 18 on the forward side of the cross piece 11 are also provided so spaced apart as to admit into the spaces between them the lugs 3 and 4 of the coupler shank 2, the lugs and flanges being secured together by the pivot in 7.

The construction just described as the merit of providing a quadruple reinforcement against the spreading of the yoke arms, since they are bound together not only by the side walls 15 but also by the front and rear walls 14 and 12.

In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown a modified form of cross-piece in which the forward sions, of excluding any mechanical equivalents of the features shown and described, or portions thereof, but recognize that various structural modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

What I claim is:-

1. A coupler yoke comprising an n per and a lower arm integrally united at t eir rear ends; lugs at their forward ends providing a pivotal connection with a coupler shank; the yoke arms to the rear of said pivotal connection being united by walls forming a hollow rectangular member, the side walls of said member being extended forwardly and reinforcing said lugs against spreading, said reinforcement extending continuously from a point forward of said hollow rectangular member rearwardly to the rear wall thereof.

2. A coupler yoke comprising an upper and a lower arm, a member havingvertical walls substantially rectangular in cross section connecting the arms near their forward ends, the side walls of said member having in continuity therewith forwardly projecting extensions, the said member comprising as to its forward wall an abutment for a I coupler butt, as to its rear Wall a hearing for a draft rig ing follower and as to extensions of its side Walls an additional reinforcement at the sides of the coupler butt.

5 and lugs forward of the said abutment prolU tially rectangular in cross section connecting wearer the arms near their forward ends having continuous side Walls, the forward face of the hollow member forming an abutment for a coupler butt, the said abutment and side walls of said member providing a reinforcement against spreading of the arms, and lugs extending forwardly from said abutment for pivotally attaching said butt to said yoke.

' ERNEST H. SCHMIDT. 

